President`s Corner - North American MGA Register (NAMGAR)

DYNAMO
President’s Corner
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Glenwood Rallye
Planning Kicks Off
2
Tractors in Denver
2
Up Coming Events
3
Metro Tech
4
Session
Forney Museum
Dust N’ Shine
5
Lincoln Mark IV
Design
6
MGA Grille Tech
Session
7
Editors Musings
8
Send in Your
2015 Dues!!!
Welcome to the first DYNAMO of the year!
I’m starting my second
stint as president. We
have a great group of
people in our club, and
I’m sure you’ll enjoy our
year motoring on all
backroads!
Planning for Glenwood is
well underway. New
J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y
member to the club,
Derek Prechtl, has/was
volunteered to be our
chairman. No pressure,
then... Some may say a
baptism of fire, but he’s
coping well. We’re all
looking forward to June.
The MOAB trip has already been set up. Telluride here we come.
If you have any events/
2 0 1 5
By Neil White
tech sessions/day trips in
mind, please let me or
any of the new officers
know. I’m sure they’d be
very welcome.
Let’s enjoy all of our journeys this year.
Remember…
Safety Fast.
Congratulations, Good Luck and Thanks to the 2015 Officers!
The regular January
meeting is not the usual
time or place for our cub
elections. However, Mother Nature intervened at
the November Meeting
(our usual Officer Election
meeting) making the roads
nearly impassable. Since
we do not have a December meeting, January it is!
Congratulations to all our
2015 Officers:
Neil White—President
John Fraioli—Vice President
Dee Dee Reilley—
Treasurer
Carole Beerman—
Secretary
Please give these folks the
respect and help they deserve, for the jobs they’re
doing. And it might be nice
to thank them , as well.
You can find the rest of our
representatives, and assistants, as always, on the back
page of this issue.
PAGE
2
Glenwood Rallye Planning is off to a Fast Start
This year, will once again, find the
planning committee in new territory.
They are always looking for new ways
to improve the event. The best way is
to have new minds join the group.
So, the 2015 and 2016 Rallye Glenwood
Springs (the longest continuously running rallye in the United States) will be
sponsored by Hagerty Insurance Co.
Additionally, this year’s Chair is Dereck
Prechtl, who is the new VP of Regional
Operations and Field Sales for Hagerty
Insurance Co., in the Denver area. He
and his staff have not only agreed to
become our sponsors, but are jumping in
with both (or all twelve) feet to help this
year’s committee plan the event.
Everyone Drives Tractors in Denver… Right?
Come to think of it… during
the National Western Stock
Show, just about everything
travels down the City Streets
of Denver.
The National
Western Stock
Show is famous for
it’s parade, which
features a cattle
drive through the
middle of the city.
The National Western Stock
Show is famous for it’s parade, which features a cattle
drive through the middle of
the city.
This seemed to be right up Al
Wulf’s alley. The parade, didn’t have an entry for MG’s so
Al spiffed up his 1936 John
Deere Tractor, and drove in
the Parade!
His tractor was originally purchased new by his maternal
grandfather. One of his uncles took care of it, seeing limited use until 1990. It got
proper decals and a new coat
of paint in the mid 60’s courtesy of one of Al’s cousins,
and… now it gleams as it
heads down 17th Street in
DYNAMO
Downtown Denver.
True to form, Al provided the
Tractor’s specifications:
Production run 1934—to 1952
(The first tractor with adjustable rear wheels)
Engine: Bore X Stroke 5.50” X
6.50” 309 Cubic Inch Two Cylinder that runs on either Gasoline (preferred fuel), Distillate
or #2 Diesel Fuel.
Horse Power at the rear
wheels: 18 (early) 34 (late)
After 1940, the engine size was
increased to 321 cubic inches.
Al seems right at home in the
seat of that John Deere. It’s
obvious that he enjoyed driving
this beauty in a parade so everyone could enjoy it.
Editor’s Note:
Al informs me that he has cleaned
the steer manure off the tires
PAGE
3
Upcoming
Events
Regular Second Wednesday Membership Meetings are held every month except December. The business meeting officially starts at 7:00 pm, but members and
guests are encouraged to be there at 6:00 pm, or earlier (the restaurant gets busy) to
order dinner from the menu. Meetings are held at Mimi’s Restaurants. We alternate locations from: 14265 W. Colfax in Golden (across from the Colorado Mills
shopping mall. From Interstate 70 take Exit 263, go south on Denver West Parkway,
then west on Colfax. Mimi’s is on the right (north).), to 9155 Park Meadows Dr. in
Lone Tree (C470 to Yosemite, then south to Park Meadows Dr. turn left (east).)
FEBRUARY
11 - Monthly Meeting @ Mimi’s in Golden (see above)
Some time this month or early next month Go Cart Day - more details as they become available.
MARCH
11 - Monthly Meeting @ Mimi’s in Lone Tree (see above)
APRIL
8
- Monthly Meeting @ Mimi’s in Golden (see above)
17-19 - GOF South, Mission Inn Resort & Club in "Old Florida" Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida. Events and Registration information at
www.gofsouth.com or contacts: Al Cook ([email protected]) or Lonnie Cook ([email protected])
20-24 - Key West Gathering in Key West, Florida, Key West British Car Club, www.keywestbritishcarclub.com for more information
SAVE THE DATES:
June 12 - 14 - RALLYE GLENWOOD SPRINGS
June 14 -19 - GOF West Rohnert Park, CA. More information: www.gofwest.org
June 20 - Bear River Younglife Car Show, Craig, Colorado. More information: http://bearriver.younglife.org
PAGE
4
Metro Tech Session
Contributed by Jack Knopinski
The Met Tech Sessions are always an
informal affair where
participants have the
opportunity to work on
any problem they
choose while having
the support and expertise of other Met
owners. For this tech
session, the Met club
invited the MGCC to
attend; after all, Mets
and MG"s share numerous parts, those
labeled "Mowog", Lucas and many others. The only MG
here was Curtiss Allen's very unique
DYNAMO
MGB which was experiencing intermittent tuning
issues. With help from a
few Met members, the B
would run just fine and
then later run like crap;
none of us were able to
determine the cause.
Our Met needed a repair
to a "cranky" window
crank that would only
lower the window one
inch. With encouragement from others, I was
able to remove the door
panel and make the necessary adjustments to
get it working properly. Other members adjusted shift linkages, re-
placed axle seals and
had the ability to put the
car on a lift to inspect
underneath.
For Met tech sessions, I
have learned to like the
format and suggest that
the MGCC adopt it. Instead of having a single
subject, participants
bring their cars with any
issue and the knowledgeable group helps
solve them. Kinda’ like
our "Butts & Bonnets"
scenarios on a typical
M.O.A.B. trip.
Contributed by Al and
Patty Wulf
Forney Car Museum Dust N’ Shine
The day dawned bright and sunny
and twenty-five hardy souls volunteered at the Forney Museum of
transportation to dust and shine the
interesting cars on display. Ben
Greene and John MacIntyre were
hardy enough to drive top down.
Ben Greene drove in from Parker,
Bill Otto from Nederland, the Meldrums from Ft. Collins, Dick Fritz
from Longmont, the Gundersons
from Littleton, Bryan Dahlberg, Walt
Brandt, Chuck Daldry, Steve Gardner, Scott Story, Dick Switzer &
Family, and Patty and myself. Four
of us drove our MGs, but Walt
Brandt and the Wulfs didn’t go
top down.
The featured car is the Lincoln
Mark Series is the featured car
until November 30th. Bryan
Dahlberg’s father worked for
Ford Motor Company and designed the Lincoln Continental
Mark IV. Bryan spoke to the
group before we started our
work giving us a little background
on the process of designing the
car. Before starting the Mark IV
project his father worked at Ford
of Europe and designed several
of the Ford products for the Ger-
man market. (Perhaps you could ask
Bryan to describe the events leading
up to Henry Ford II deciding to use
the Dahlberg design)
Meldrum contingent included oldest
daughter Oriana and two of her
friends. Matilda one of the friends,
not afraid of heights, scrambled up
on to the “Big Boy” to dust.
After finishing our task at the Forney,
nine of us adjourned the “Red Roster” Café for lunch. Everyone had a
good time and we are looking forward to doing this again next year.
PAGE
MGCC’s Bryan Dahlberg Remembers his
Dad’s Design of the Lincoln Mark IV at
Dust N’ Shine
6
“According to
Collectible
Automobile
magazine,
Wes Dahlberg
may be the
first designer
in Ford history who had
charge of
both the exterior and interior of a single
car.”
Taken from: Continental Comments magazine and reprinted
in the April 1998 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine:
There were five different studios within the company producing designs in a sort of intramural competition. Wes Dahlberg headed the team from the
Advanced Styling Department.
He tells the story:
"It was really a crash program.
I had two designers under me
and six modelers. It was a designer's dream as far as the
package was concerned. The
proportions of this car were so
superb. It was a treat for me,
because after having done European cars for so long, here
all of a sudden was this huge
car.
"We had this particular model
Henry Ford and
Taunus P3
semi-prepared for a show,
and were working toward
another one when Bunky
Knudsen [Semon E. Knudson, then president of
Ford] came in one day unexpectedly with his crew of
men and saw this model.
We were supposed to have
it covered, but he came in
without our knowing it. He
said, 'Gentlemen, this is
going to be the next Mark,
the Mark IV. Don't change
anything except for manufacturing and engineering
feasibility.' He said it without
consulting Henry Ford or
anybody, and you just don't
do that in a large company
like Ford.
"But it turned out, and from
then on we just worked with
the engineers and worked
with the feasibility problems and we changed as
Submitted by Bryan Dahlberg
little as we had to. The oval
windows were added later,
but except for those, there
were very few details that
were changed.
"The grille was sort of like
the Rolls-Royce, but we did
not copy it directly. We
were trying for the look of
many of the great classics if
they were to be built in
1972 -- not necessarily the
Duesenberg, but all of
them. We wanted a clean
look and simplicity.
According to Collectible
Automobile magazine, Wes
Dahlberg may be the first
designer in Ford history
who had charge of both the
exterior and interior of a
single car.
Bryan Dahlberg @ the Forney Museum talking about the Mark IV
Wes Dahlberg with scale model of
his first automobile design, a 1960
German Ford Taunus, manufactured
1960-64. The rear bumper design
was later used on the original 1965
Mustang. Ford publicity photo, 1960
Editor’s note: Taunus is not a “typo”
The name comes from a mountain
range in Central Germany
DYNAMO
Wes Dahlberg and
Taunus P5
TECH SESSION
By Bryan Dahlberg
MGA Easy Grille Removal
During the years I spent restoring
my 1960 MGA, I heard many
frightening and cautionary tales
about the importance of the
hood latch mechanism and the
alignment of the hood. Specifically, I was told to make sure the
latch was working perfectly before installing the grille; if the
hood ever jammed closed, the
only way to access the latch
would be to cut through my
beautiful grille.
This exact thing happened to me
soon after I finished the restoration last year — the hood
jammed closed. But I refused to
damage the grille, so I spent
many hours with unlikely tools
removing the grille with only mi-
nor bending of the slats. If the
car had been older and the fasteners tight and rusty, that
would have been impossible. I
resolved never to let this happen
again.
The solution was rather simple,
without any modifications to either the body or the grille. Even
with the hood closed, I can now
remove the grille in about 15
minutes. The solution was to replace the three bolts at the top
of the grille with short lengths of
brass tubing and some rubber
fuel line.
First, reverse the direction of the
original bolts that used to go
The grille can now be removed
by unscrewing the original
bottom three bolts behind the
valance as usual. Then just pull
out the bottom of the grille and
slide it downward off the three
top pins.
Tubing Bottom
Tubing Top
Grille Opening
Removing Grille
downward through holes in the
shroud and into the grille. Screw
them upwards through the nuts
that are part of the grille. Then
get some brass tubing from a
hobby shop. The inside diameter
should fit the bolts. You’ll also
need some rubber hose that fits
snugly over this brass tubing.
These sections of brass tubing,
with the hose sections used to
retain them in the original bolt
holes, serve simply as locating
pins for the top of the grille.
Grille Back
OFFICERS for 2015
President
Neil
The DYNAMO (“to gen-
Elizabeth
(303) 646-5717
Vice President John Fraioli
Aurora
(303) 766-5386
erate interest”) is the official bi-
Secretary
Carole Beermann
Aurora
(720) 273-4190
monthly publication of MGCC/
Treasurer
Dee Dee Reilley
Denver
(303) 331-1125
RMC. Membership is open to an-
Historian
Alan Magnuson
Centennial
(303) 400-8076
yone having interest in the MG
Membership
Al Wulf
Wheat Ridge
(303) 424-6830
Regalia
Cathy Gunderson
Littleton
(303) 791-4902
Bylaws
Stan Edwards
Arvada
(303) 423-8129
CCCC Rep
Dick Fritz
Longmont
(303) 774-9710
Register (NAMGAR) and the
Property
Al Wulf
Wheat Ridge
(303) 424-6830
North American MGB Register
Rallye
Dereck Prechtl
Denver
(231) 642-1898
Editor
Joanne Arnston
Littleton
(303) 904-7479
Web Site
Dan McGrew
Littleton
(303) 524-5924
NAMGAR Rep Joe Gunderson
Littleton
(303) 791-4902
NAMGBR Rep Bob Gloyd
Centennial
(303) 680-0990
Glenwood
with the North American MGA
(NAMGBR), as well as the Col-
Editor’s Musings
We are “snowbirding” this year. It’s
something new for us… and I’m having
to publish the DYNAMO remotely,
again, as we travel. While this sounds
like a difficult thing to do, with the help
of so many others I am able to do this
work from almost anywhere. Most of
you didn’t even know I did the same
thing last Fall. See? Seamless.
There is really no way for me to attend
every event, so I have always relied on
others for photographs from those
events I cannot attend. Even Better,
when some write articles. Keep those photos and stories rolling
in!
I suppose the one thing
that I’m missing, is the
DYNAMO
marque. MGCC/RMC is affiliated
lector Car Council of Colorado.
Find us on the Web!
Joanne Arnston
WWW.mgcc.org
And Facebook
“A”! Here we are in perfect weather,
and no MG! Sigh… There are dozens
of golf carts, nearly everyone has one
of those. I can’t imagine the envious
looks, if we had the “A” down here.
Admittedly, it’s a bit hot most days.
But, the cool mornings and cooler evenings would be perfect. Unfortunately,
we’d have to drive it here along with
our 5th Wheel trading off along the
way. I’m an accomplished packer… but
even I couldn’t manage the magical feat
of packing a whole car into this rig.
I suppose I’ll have to be content to get
started with the rest of you in a few
months, after the snow melts.
I think, having spent a lot of our winter
in summer-like conditions will only
make it more difficult to wait for spring.
MG-Car-Club-of-EnglandRocky-Mountain-Centre
But, I’m convinced that our new
VP will have some great day trips
in store for all of us this year. I
am prepared for the next driving
season to begin… heck, it’s like
the song “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” This place is proof that
it’s driving season somewhere
too.
Safety Fast!